Over the course of the summer, I’ll be looking to provide updates on what is going on in your community. I’ll focus on major issues in the community and highlight any events that you may be interested in. This week, I’ll look at Richmond.

Development in RichmondRichmond has grown by 30% since 2000. Much of this growth has occurred north of Perth Street and development will generally continue at that pace and in that area in the near future. Hyde Park, King’s Grant, and Richmond Oaks all continue to grow while some new developments are in the very early stages, with occupancy not planned until 2013 and beyond. The empty lot at Cockburn & Hamilton has an application for 40 semi-detached homes and an application is also in the works for lands directly north of the Richmond Plaza. To find out more about these developments, visit www.ottawa.ca/devapps and you can also contact my office.

The most asked question is commonly, when will Mattamy begin their development? As of right now, there are no formal applications for the development lands west of Richmond and this is another case in which occupancy will not occur until at least 2013. There are currently two developers that own these lands, with Mattamy owning the southernmost property while another developer owns the lands that border Perth Street. The community will be very much kept up to speed should any progress occur on these lands.

As for commercial development, Colonnade Developments has had their Zoning Amendment approved by Committee and Council and are looking to proceed with a commercial plaza at Shea and Perth. The grand total of retail space will be no more than 75,000 square feet, spread out over several separate structures. Just to give you a size comparison, all stores combined will be one fifth the size of the new IKEA. Occupancy is targeted for Spring/Summer 2012.

Boil Water Advisories and The GlenA few months ago, I was told that the Munster boil water advisory was the first since 2007. That was before we had two in less than three months in Richmond. After a second failure to the backup generator occurred July 18th, immediate action was taken to replace the backup generator. Further to this, a second backup generator was installed at the other pumping station in the Glen. Should there be more power failures in the future, these two backup generators will provide more reliability than previously experienced as there was just the one backup. If one fails, the other is there to prevent a drop in water pressure. I want to thank the residents once again for their patience and understanding during this most recent boil water advisory and I also want to assure you that we are taking the necessary steps to ensure this does not happen again anytime soon.

Richmond FairCelebrating its 167th birthday, the Richmond Fair is being held September 15-18 this year and I am very much looking forward to it. Keeping a campaign promise, I will have a booth at the Fair each and every year that I have the privilege to represent Rideau-Goulbourn. This marks my first Fair as your representative and I’m very excited to be there. Make sure to stop by my booth to chat and let me know what’s on your mind.